Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Astrantia major cultivar Abbey Road.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astrantia plant, botanically known as Astrantia major, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Abbey Road.
The new Astrantia originated from a cross-pollination in 1997 of two unidentified selections of Astrantia major, not patented. The new Astrantia was selected by the Inventors in May, 2002, in a controlled environment in Reenwijk, The Netherlands, from the resultant progeny on the basis of its dark purple-colored involucral bracts.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by divisions harvested in Reenwijk, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Astrantia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Abbey Road have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Abbey Roadxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Abbey Roadxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Dark colored stems and leaves.
3. Freely and continuous flowering habit.
4. Inflorescences with showy involucral bracts that are dark purple in color.
Compared to plants of the parent selections, plants of the new Astrantia have thicker stems and darker colored leaves. In addition, plants of the new Astrantia and the parent selections differ in flower coloration as plants of the parent selections have greenish-white to light pink-colored flowers.
Plants of the cultivar Abbey Road can be compared to plants of the Astrantia major cultivar Ruby Wedding, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Reenwijk, The Netherlands, plants of the new Astrantia differed from plants of the cultivar Ruby Wedding in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Astrantia were taller than plants of the cultivar Ruby Wedding.
2. Plants of the new Astrantia had darker colored leaves than plants of the cultivar Ruby Wedding.
3. Plants of the new Astrantia had dark purple-colored involucral bracts whereas plants of the cultivar Ruby Wedding had dark red-colored involucral bracts.